# Should Homeschooling be banned? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 13, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721 "2020-05-13T15:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/21 "2020-05-13T18:11:19Z")
I vaguely recall interacting with some homeschooled kids when I was around 12 or so, and being appalled at their utter lack of the very basic scientific knowledge (like not knowing the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates). But I know of some other homeschooled kids who are just the opposite. I don’t think it should be banned, but I do think homsechooling parents should be required to have some sort of certification at least to demonstrate that they have the requisite knowledge to pass on to their kids what every member of the community should know (i.e. the basics about the world around them, the basics of history, the basics of how society works, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/22 "2020-05-13T18:11:44Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Parents do have a right to freely practice their religion, and that includes homeschooling their children if they so choose. yeah, those are the kids that end up on food stamps and drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/23 "2020-05-13T18:16:11Z")
When the Jonas Brother were beginning to become popular their parents had a conundrum as to how they would be educated. Which led to the question: Should the band be homeschooled? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/24 "2020-05-13T18:17:06Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > yeah, those are the kids that end up on food stamps and drugs. Wow. That’s the most bigoted thing I’ve seen posted here in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/25 "2020-05-13T18:19:52Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Well, parents have the right to teach their own religion to their children, of course. That doesn’t mean they’re entitled to prevent their children from receiving any other teaching. In fact, parents can be fined or jailed for “educational neglect” if their children don’t get adequate schooling in some form, irrespective of whether they’re getting religious training from their parents. In fact, there are state approved home school programs that meet all applicable standards. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/26 "2020-05-13T18:26:11Z")
A simple example of why we don’t want either the government nor parents to have absolute control over children: What is an abused child to do? A child who’s being abused at home can tell their teachers, and a child who’s being abused at school can tell their parents. If we had an environment where children at school were completely isolated from their parents, then children would have nobody they could report abuse to… but nobody ever recommends that, because everyone recognizes that it would be terrible. But what about homeschooled children abused by their parents? What recourse do they have? And yes, I know that of course most homeschooling parents don’t abuse their children, and it’s perfectly possible for a homeschooling situation to turn out great for everyone involved. But that’s not always the way it works, and so you need some way of dealing with the times when it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/27 "2020-05-13T18:27:05Z")
> [@](#): > > In fact, there are state approved home school programs that meet all applicable standards. Not all of the standards. Like, say, the standards that the teachers have to meet. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/28 "2020-05-13T18:28:58Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Parents do have a right to freely practice their religion, and that includes homeschooling their children if they so choose. Only to the extent that homeschooling meets the same standards of education as those not being homeschooled. The right to practice one’s religion doesn’t extend to the right to prevent their children from receiving the benefits of education. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/29 "2020-05-13T18:42:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > …it’s perfectly possible for a homeschooling situation to turn out great for everyone involved. But that’s not always the way it works, and so you need some way of dealing with the times when it doesn’t. Well, you could say exactly the same sentence about many school districts in the US. But that is not an argument to throw out public education. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/30 "2020-05-13T18:47:27Z")
The risk of some other parent doing a bad job is insufficient to ban mine from having done a good job. It doesn’t take much to do better than the worst schools in this country anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/31 "2020-05-13T18:47:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Not all of the standards. Like, say, the standards that the teachers have to meet. Not the point. Licensed teachers educate other people’s kids. A parent is entitled to educate his own child, in compliance with state law. Some of them form co-ops, where several families get together for certain types of classes. Some of the parents are religious. Some of the kids have special needs. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/32 "2020-05-13T18:47:42Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > In fact, there are state approved home school programs that meet all applicable standards. There’s literally no regulation of private or home schools in Texas. You can do whatever you want. [From the Texas website](https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/non-public-education/regulation-map/texas.html): > [@](#): > > Home Schools > Texas has no laws or regulations related to homeschooling. The state of Texas does not regulate, monitor, approve, register, or accredit programs available to parents who choose to homeschool their children. In addition, the state of Texas does not award a diploma to students who are homeschooled. However, in accordance with Texas Education Code §51.9241, the state of Texas considers the successful completion of a homeschool education to be equivalent to graduation from a public or private high school. Here are the complete curricular requirements for private schools: > [@](#): > > Curriculum and Instruction > Under the Texas Supreme Court decision rendered in Leeper et al. vs. Arlington Independent School District et al. a homeschool curriculum must be designed to meet a minimum of basic education goals including reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and a study of good citizenship. > A home school will be considered a private school for the provision of services for children with disabilities if it provides elementary or secondary education that includes a curriculum designed to meet basic education goals, with a scope and sequential progress of courses and a review and documentation of student progress in place. Texas Administrative Code, Title 19, Part II, §89.1096 Look, I love homeschooling. We wanted to homeschool our son, but he likes school. I think it’s an important option for parents to have. But there’s also huge potential for abuse–both the potential for someone to hide physical abuse, and educational abuse. I feel like a person’s right to religious freedom doesn’t trump each child’s right to the sort of education they need to be functional in society. If your religion teaches that women should be traditional wives, and that any education beyond about 6th grade is inappropriate, well, that traps those girls. They can’t leave later because they are economically dependent on their husbands, no matter how abusive those men are. They can’t challenge anything, because they can’t live outside the community. What are your thoughts on situations like that? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/33 "2020-05-13T18:53:00Z")
Since home-schooled children tend to exceed the standards of public education, banning home schooling is obviously not addressing that issue. The problem, as that Harvard harpy mentions, is that parents have too much authority and (in her ill-formed and bigoted opinion) the state has not enough. Thus they might [list=a][li]Grossly outperform the public schools, thus forming a group of well-educated over-achievers who will hurt the self-esteem of others, and Teach un-approved thought, which in the minds of the liberal elite always equates to racism/sexism/heresy. [/list]Teacher’s unions don’t want the competition, and liberals don’t want children to be taught anything but liberal thought. Hence the call to ban home-schooling. [/li] Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/34 "2020-05-13T18:54:36Z")
Harpy again huh ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/35 "2020-05-13T19:16:22Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Since home-schooled children tend to exceed the standards of public education, banning home schooling is obviously not addressing that issue. The problem, as that Harvard harpy mentions, is that parents have too much authority and (in her ill-formed and bigoted opinion) the state has not enough. Thus they might [list=a][li]Grossly outperform the public schools, thus forming a group of well-educated over-achievers who will hurt the self-esteem of others, and [\*]Teach un-approved thought, which in the minds of the liberal elite always equates to racism/sexism/heresy. [/list]Teacher’s unions don’t want the competition, and liberals don’t want children to be taught anything but liberal thought. Hence the call to ban home-schooling. [/li] > Regards, > Shodan Holy shit, this whole post. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/36 "2020-05-13T19:28:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think the argument is that dividing up a child’s time between two separate environments weakens the authoritarian possibilities of both of them. Parents can keep a watch for the signs that the school is too authoritarian and teachers can keep a watch for the signs that the home is too authoritarian. OK, that’s actually a very good argument. I was once leery of living in the dorms for somewhat related reasons, visualizing a dispute about something academic affecting the security of my living situation or vice versa. Safer to not be in the embrace of the same institution at all times, etc. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/37 "2020-05-13T19:34:44Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > … > So what do you all think? I’ve worked with alot of homeschooled kids and while I’ve seen some negatives, most of the times the kids are actually educationally ahead of their public school peers and have just as much peer interaction. > > Quite frankly the Harvard proff, her big problem is she wants the state to be in absolute control and destroy parents rights to educate their children. > > Granted this is just one professor but its sad shes at such a high regarded university. Yes, it should be banned. IF by “Homeschooling” you mean taking the kid out of school so the kid gets nothing but taught at home- which far too often means brainwashing and indoctrination into religious cults. Now, if a parent wants to give add’l instruction, other than public school- they yes, sure that is a great idea. My Dad was a teacher and taught me to read at a very early age. But I still went to public school- except 7 & 8th grade. I would extend this to no more private schools even, unless their program is overseen by elected officials. I dont want any kids being taught that Evolution is fake or even worse- that being fucked by your dad who has twenty wives is A Good Thing. Yes, I know that a good number of kids who are homeschooled get a better education. But nothing stops the Parent from giving that kid 2-4 hours of home instruction also. Public school has more benefits that just education. Kids get socialized with other kids- of all races, creeds, and sexes. This helps stop racism. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/38 "2020-05-13T19:42:22Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > … > Now, some things that need debunking: > > 1. “Homeschoolers lack social skills because they don’t interact with others” - plenty of homeschoolers get plenty of social interaction; indeed, many are often more skilled at interacting with people of all ages than their schooled peers, who often only hang out with classmates of similar age. One refrain in the homeschooling community was that one way to spot a homeschooled kid was that they preferred to have conversations with people much older than they. > > … Some homeschoolers do lack social skills. Some homeschoolers are taught in the compound that it is Right and a Good thing to have daddy fuck them, as God wants it that way. Mind you, that is a small number, sure, but why handwave them away? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/39 "2020-05-13T19:45:16Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Poking around for the [actual article](https://arizonalawreview.org/homeschooling-parent-rights-absolutism-vs-child-rights-to-education-protection/) published by Bartholet, I notice some important wording in the abstract that the OP and his main source article left unquoted: > In other words, Bartholet isn’t even suggesting a categorical ban on homeschooling. She’s merely arguing that parents who want to homeschool should have to demonstrate that their choice is justified and respects their child’s constitutional right to an adequate education. That makes sense. You get some well educated parents who will show that their kid wont be simply religiously brainwashed, and can make sure they kids get plenty of socialization, and fine. You get Parents screaming it is Gods Will that their Child cannot attend the Godless public school- not so much. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721/40 "2020-05-13T19:48:46Z")
remember those 9 kids that were beaten starved and other abuses? they were homeschooled in what 4 or 5states? But people are forgetting there are 2 different kinds of homeschooling too… there’s the “you still register at a public school and do the work they give you just at home” type also where you go in once a week and a teacher does a lecture/explains it once a week then you get the types that homeschool because of their beliefs the " my kids are going around o sinners darkies etc … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-homeschooling-be-banned/853721.md?page=3)